With more than 100 trade visitors, the first "Forum Markt & Wein" at the Neustadt Wine Campus got off to a successful start on April 11, 2019. The German Wine Institute (DWI) and Weincampus Neustadt were pleased with the great response and the high quality of the presentations and workshops. "We hit a nerve with this event," says DWI Managing Director Monika Reule, "There is a great need to understand the German wine market and its consumers. Data, discussions and analyses were of great interest to the specialist audience.
Prof. Dr. Marc Dreßler from Weincampus Neustadt formulated the challenge of the German wine market right at the beginning of the event : "Wine consumption in Germany is stagnating. There was hardly any growth last year. The wine market is also facing strong competition from trendy alcoholic beverages such as craft beer and gin." How can German wine-growing regions distinguish themselves in this environment and gain market share over imported wines? These questions were the focus of the first "Forum Markt & Wein".
The two market researchers Wilhelm Lerner from Wine Intelligence and André Beron from GfK presented answers and analyses in their presentations. Both identified the increasing demand for branded products as the most important current consumer trend. Many consumers would orient themselves towards brands when buying wine in the absence of specialist knowledge. "Brands win when wine knowledge is lacking," said Wilhelm Lerner in his presentation.
Another positive trend is that consumers are prepared to spend more money on branded wines. This market development is referred to as "trading up". The market researcher summarized it as "class instead of mass". According to Beron's analysis, winemakers should therefore focus on quality, organic viticulture and sustainability in order to win over young target groups.
In the afternoon, the participants split into four workshops. The topics of the working groups were wide-ranging:
- How does the label influence my perception of taste? - A practical self-experiment
- Improving tourism value creation - Necessary prerequisites from the perspective of business, science and politics
- Customer-centered wine design: From consumer preferences to successful wine stylistics using the example of low-alcohol wines
- Future potential for wine sales in Germany
At the Degree, the working groups presented the results of their workshops in the auditorium of the Neustadt Wine Campus. The day was rounded off with a concentrated exchange in the plenary session on market strategies and new target groups.
"We were able to initiate important discussions with our forum and build a network of experts that we want to expand further," says Monika Reule from the DWI. For this reason, the "Forum Markt & Wein" is to be continued as an annual series of events. The date for next year's event at the Neustadt Wine Campus has already been set for April 23, 2020.
About the Weincampus:
The Weincampus Neustadt is a joint scientific institution of the Ludwigshafen University of Business and Society, the universities of Bingen and Kaiserslautern and the Dienstleistungszentrum Ländlicher Raum (DLR) Rheinpfalz. The scientific institution is responsible for the dual Bachelor's degree course in viticulture and oenology, the part-time Master's degree course MBA Wine, Sustainability and Sales as well as research in viticulture and oenology.
More information at: https://www.weincampus-neustadt.de/
